Biotic Interactions Are an Unexpected Yet Critical Control on the Complexity of an Abiotically Driven Polar Ecosystem

Overview

Journal Commun Biol

Specialty Biology

Date 2019 Feb 23

PMID 30793041

Citations 21

Authors

Charles K Lee

Daniel C Laughlin

Eric M Bottos

Tancredi Caruso

Kurt Joy

John E Barrett

Lars Brabyn

Uffe N Nielsen

Byron J Adams

Diana H Wall

David W Hopkins

Stephen B Pointing

Ian R McDonald

Don A Cowan

Jonathan C Banks

Glen A Stichbury

Irfon Jones

Peyman Zawar-Reza

Marwan Katurji

Ian D Hogg

Ashley D Sparrow

Bryan C Storey

T G Allan Green

S Craig Cary

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Abiotic and biotic factors control ecosystem biodiversity, but their relative contributions remain unclear. The ultraoligotrophic ecosystem of the Antarctic Dry Valleys, a simple yet highly heterogeneous ecosystem, is a natural laboratory well-suited for resolving the abiotic and biotic controls of community structure. We undertook a multidisciplinary investigation to capture ecologically relevant biotic and abiotic attributes of more than 500 sites in the Dry Valleys, encompassing observed landscape heterogeneities across more than 200 km. Using richness of autotrophic and heterotrophic taxa as a proxy for functional complexity, we linked measured variables in a parsimonious yet comprehensive structural equation model that explained significant variations in biological complexity and identified landscape-scale and fine-scale abiotic factors as the primary drivers of diversity. However, the inclusion of linkages among functional groups was essential for constructing the best-fitting model. Our findings support the notion that biotic interactions make crucial contributions even in an extremely simple ecosystem.

Citing Articles

Soils of two Antarctic Dry Valleys exhibit unique microbial community structures in response to similar environmental disturbances.

Baptista M, Lee C, Monteiro M, Torgo L, Cary S, Magalhaes C Environ Microbiome. 2024; 19(1):52.

PMID: 39060935 PMC: 11282855. DOI: 10.1186/s40793-024-00587-0.

Warming alters cascading effects of a dominant arthropod predator on fungal community composition in the Arctic.

Koltz A, Koyama A, Wallenstein M mBio. 2024; 15(7):e0059024.

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Successive accumulation of biotic assemblages at a fine spatial scale along glacier-fed waters.

Lu Q, Liu Y, Zhao J, Yao M iScience. 2024; 27(4):109476.

PMID: 38617565 PMC: 11015461. DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.109476.

Biotic interactions explain seasonal dynamics of the alpine soil microbiome.

Fiore-Donno A, Freudenthal J, Borg Dahl M, Rixen C, Urich T, Bonkowski M ISME Commun. 2024; 4(1):ycae028.

PMID: 38500704 PMC: 10945362. DOI: 10.1093/ismeco/ycae028.

Geology defines microbiome structure and composition in nunataks and valleys of the Sør Rondane Mountains, East Antarctica.

Savaglia V, Lambrechts S, Tytgat B, Vanhellemont Q, Elster J, Willems A Front Microbiol. 2024; 15:1316633.

PMID: 38380088 PMC: 10877063. DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1316633.

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